Afghan officials are reporting that the battle over the Uruzgan Province capital of Tarin Kot isn’t going so great, and the US warplanes that are supposed to be helping them fend off the offensive apparently aren’t doing so hot either, with officials confirming at least eight Afghan police killed in a bungled US airstrike.
The Taliban was in the process of attacking a police post when an airstrike was called in, but instead of hitting the Taliban, US planes attacked the police post repeatedly. Officials say the first strike killed a single policeman, and that seven more arrived after the base was hit the first time and were slain in a subsequent airstrike.
NATO confirmed the attack but denied having any information on who they’d actually killed. They did, however, appear dismissive of the report that they were police, confirming two strikes and insisting that the people they were targeting were “a threat” to Afghan forces.
The Taliban has been advancing against Uruzgan’s capital for weeks now, and Afghan officials say 38 police posts were overrun in the last 2 days. This is one of several major Taliban offensives ongoing at present, with other pushes in the Helmand and Kunduz Provinces.
“NATO confirmed the attack but denied having any information on who they’d actually killed. They did, however, appear dismissive of the report that they were police, confirming two strikes and insisting that the people they were targeting were “a threat” to Afghan forces.”
The screw-up was bad, the persistent denial worse. It appears that Pentagon incompetence is the new normal. The supreme example of Pentagon incompetence: 22 billion dollars ***TOTAL MISSION FAILURE*** to create a replacement Iraqi army,… which of course they blamed on the Iraqis.
Lesson number one for future Pentagon’s incompetent army builders: when you build an army of spineless paycheck-motivated superlosers who soil themselves and skeedaddle like little girls (my apologies to little girls) at the first sign of a real fighting man, at least drive your sorry ass out of there in some military vehicle, preferably a tank.
More US precision bombing.
There does seem to be a persistent failure of those responsible for targeting on the battlefields. Of course, it might be different if those doing the targeting (and subsequent bombing/strafing) actually valued those they are killing. It used to be extreme care was taken working around those who they were supposed to be helping. But it seems even allies nowadays aren’t safe. But, attitudes about the value of life, especially those who aren’t as “self-declared exceptional as others,” seem to be discriminatory.